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Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - Belize (RATIFICATION: 1999)

The Committee notes with concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It expects that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 5 of the Convention. In its previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to amend section 25 of the Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations (Registration, Recognition and Status) Act, which provides that the tripartite body entrusted with the certification of the representative trade unions may, before granting any certification to a trade union, include additional employees to the bargaining unit, or exclude some employees therefrom in order to render the unit more appropriate. The Committee had noted that, according to the Government, the Committee’s comments had been submitted to the Labour Advisory Board, which had been recently reactivated and one of whose main duties is to review national labour legislation. In these circumstances, the Committee expresses the hope that section 25 of the Act will soon be amended so as to ensure that the tripartite body will base its decisions on objective and pre-established criteria so as to avoid an opportunity for partiality or abuse. It requests the Government to provide a copy of the new legislation once it is adopted.

Article 7. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that three collective agreements were signed in 2008 (in the banking sector, the port sector and the energy sector, covering 213 workers). The Committee further notes, from the Government’s report on the application of Convention No. 98, that one agreement was signed in 2006 in the agricultural sector, covering approximately 42 workers, and seven agreements were concluded in 2007 in the agricultural, banking and services sectors, covering approximately 779 workers.

Finally, with respect to the measures requested by the Committee to promote collective bargaining in those sectors where it does not exist (commerce, domestic work and transport), the Committee had noted the Government’s indication that the promotion of collective bargaining resulted in a trade union seeking representational rights among workers from two companies (from the transport sector and from the commerce sector) and that a survey and a poll had respectively been conducted by the tripartite body in these companies. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the progress respecting these development